By Andrew Bansal
British classic heavy metal legends Saxon are in their absolute prime as a live band and in the studio, keeping a 35-year old career going strong and marching on with no signs of slowing down. They are getting ready to release their 21st full-length studio album ‘Battering Ram’ via UDR Music on October 30th 2015, and on the recently concluded North American tour as main support to Motörhead, including some headline dates with support act Armored Saint, Saxon gave audiences a taste of the brand new material by performing the title track every night. I spoke to frontman Biff Byford in the midst of this tour, to discuss ‘Battering Ram’, touring with Motörhead, and other things. Enjoy the conversation below, along with a taste of the new music.
Biff, it’s great to have you again on Metal Assault. You’re on tour with Motörhead right now. How’s everything been going for you guys, a week-and-a-half into the tour?
Everything’s been going good! It was bit rough last night in Salt Lake City because of the altitude, but otherwise it’s been fantastic, actually. Great audiences, full houses everywhere.
Both Saxon and Motörhead have been around for so long. What’s your past history been like with Motörhead? You’re doing this full tour with them now, but before this how much have you been in touch with them or played shows with them over the years?
The first proper tour we ever did was in 1979, and it was with Motörhead, just before ‘Wheels Of Steel’ came out. We’ve known them ever since, really, all the different band members. I think we’ve probably toured with them about six times in the last 35 years. We toured Europe with them sometime ago for the ‘Bombers And Eagles’ tour. We took out the big Eagle and they took out the Bomber. It was a special time to be touring together. We’ve traveled the whole world with Motörhead on that tour. So we were with them all the time, actually. We did headline shows as well, when they were doing other things. Compared to those days, it looks like we’ve settled down a bit more in America.
Without a doubt. So, this is the 40th anniversary tour for them, but Saxon has been around for more than 35 years too. When you come to your 40th anniversary, do you see yourselves doing something special for that occasion?
Well, this tour pretty much is the 35th anniversary tour and we’re playing a lot of old songs. When we come back to America next year it’ll be the ‘Battering Ram’ tour, for the new album, and we’ll have quite a few of the new songs in the set. So yeah, we are able to come back to America quite a lot now. We’re already on the 35th anniversary, and if we make it to 40, we’ll be sure to do something special!
Talking of ‘Battering Ram’, you’ve been playing the title song at these shows. The album came together pretty quickly after ‘Sacrifice’ came out. How was the process for you this time as compared to before?
It was a little bit different. Me and Nibbs had quite a lot of ideas that we were messing around with, so that was our starting point, and then the band sort of came in and wrote a bit later on. With Saxon, it just depends on how it goes at the time. There are no set rules. We all chip in and get the songs up to a great level. We put Andy Sneap in charge of the album and had him produce this one, and he did a great job as well.
This is the 21st album for the band, which is a lot of albums. It must be hard to come up with stuff that you haven’t done before. Does that weigh on your mind?
No, not at all. Our guitar riffs come from a different generation anyway, so that gives it a different angle, I suppose. We have lots of ideas, and if we don’t have ideas, we just take a break and come back when we do have some.
Right, and as you said, the set list for this tour is spanning 35 years as a band. I think that’s a good way to approach the set, specially as a support band, because it puts on a good representation of the band in front of Motörhead fans who might not be familiar with you.
Yeah, that’s right. And Motörhead are giving us an hour which is really generous, so it gives us a bit of time to play some of the newer stuff as well. We’re playing ‘Battering Ram’, we’re playing ‘Sacrifice’, and we’re doing a song from the late 80s or early 90s, either ‘I’ve Got To Rock (To Stay Alive)’ or ‘Solid Ball Of Rock’. So we’re mixing it up a little bit. Obviously the bigger hits are in there too.
Besides these Motörhead shows you’re also doing some off-date headline gigs on this tour, so it’s kind of like two tours rolled into one. You get to do a full headline set some nights.
Yeah! It’s not easy to go from one to other. We have six or seven different set lists already (laughs). Sometimes we play two hours, sometimes an hour-and-a-half, and other times we do just an hour. It’s a bit crazy, but it’s good fun, you know.
Right, I guess it keeps you on your toes as a performer, because you cannot get into a single mindset from night to night.
That’s right! You have to have two or three mindsets, actually.
And for some of these headline shows you’re also taking out Armored Saint, like you did a few months ago. That’s another great band which has been around for a number of years. You doing these two separate old-school lineups with Motörhead and Armored Saint is great for fans of the genre.
It’s been going good! I think people like both packages. It’s basically the same audiences, really. Great rock audiences that just want to listen to great songs!
Talking of the ‘Saxon Chronicles’ box set which was reissued this year with footage from the early 80s, I think the only thing that has changed from then to now is that the spandex has gone away and has been replaced by regular denim. Your voice is still the same. How do you manage that, and are you doing anything different now that you’re older?
(Laughs) No, I don’t do anything different. I just try to stay healthy. We do party quite hard and drink after the shows and things like that, but you have to draw a line and say, “That’s enough, I’m going to bed now.” I’m really lucky my voice is in good condition in the moment. Let’s hope it stays that way!
Yeah, and the other thing you’re probably fortunate with is, the songs from the late 70s and early 80s are still such that you’re able to sing them the same way. You didn’t sing them super crazy high-pitched even in those days.
Yeah, there is no silly screaming things in there that you have to reproduce every night. So I’m lucky that we didn’t do that in those days (laughs). But I did a lot of high vocals on the new album. It’s nothing like Zeppelin or anything like that, but I’m just having fun with my voice, really. It’s good fun to be able to sing when you’ve been in the business for so long. It’s a really great thing and I’m very lucky and privileged to be able to sing well, even after so many years.
One thing that interested me at the couple of shows I saw on the current tour was, before you hit the stage, AC/DC’s ‘It’s A Long Way To The Top’ is played on the PA. Is there any particular reason for that? I think it’s pretty fitting with how your career has gone.
Yeah I think it’s fitting to the 35th anniversary, but it was the first AC/DC song I ever heard and the first album I bought. We sometimes play Metallica before the gig, but this tour we’ve been doing AC/DC. On the last tour we did ‘Seek And Destroy’ before we went on stage. It gets the audience in the mood and they knew we’re coming on right after that song.
Lastly, you’re touring with Motörhead right now and they’re obviously a little bit senior to you, although not by too much. So, if you were asked to cover a Motörhead song, what would you pick?
I like ‘Bomber’. I’m a Motörhead fan too, just like you, and I like all of their old stuff but I like their new stuff too. The new album is pretty cool, I heard that. I like ‘1916’, that’s a great one. ‘Ace Of Spades’ too, obviously, but ‘Overkill’ would probably be my favorite Motörhead song to cover.
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